Governing of free piston type internal-combustion compressors



R. J. WELSH Dec. 27, 1949 GOVERNING OF FREE PISTON TYPE INTERNAL-COMBUSTION COMPRESSORS 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Dec. 3, 1943' Dec. 27, 1949 R. J. WELSH 2,492,546

GOVERNING OF FREE PISTON TYPE INTERNAL-COMBUSTION COMPRESSORS Filed Dec. 3, 1943 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Dec. 27, 1949 R. J. WELSH GOVERNING OF FREE PISTON TYPE INTERNAL-COMBUSTION COMPRESSORS 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed Dec. 3, 1943 Patented Dec. 27, 1949 UNITED STATEE TENT OFFICE GOVERNING OF FREE PISTON TYPE INTER- NAL-COMEUSTION COMPRESSORS Application December 3, 1943, Serial No. 512,835 In Great Britain September 30, 1942 '7 Claims.

This invention relates to a free piston t p internal combustion compressor 1. e. a device wherein a compressor piston is directl connected to or combined with an internal combustion engine piston instead of being driven thereby through connecting rods, cranks and crankshaits. There are usually two. opposed engine pistons reciprocable towards and away from each other in one cylinder; the .engine is usually one operating on a two-stroke. compression-ignition cycle, some or all of the air from the compressor serving to scavenge and charge the engine cylinder.

'A device of this kind may be used as a gasgenerator to supply another piece of apparatus such as a gas turbine, which may have as its working fluid either (i) solely air coming direct from the compressor or (ii) solely the exhaust from the engine cylinder (comprising the prodnets of the combustion in the engine cylinder mixed with the scavenging air supplied to the engine by the compressor) or (iii) a mixture oi" the engine exhaust with air coming direct from the compressor. The second-of these three alternatives is most usual.

If a free piston type internal combustion compressor be used as a gas generator to supply motive fluid to a prime mover (hereinafter referred to as a turbine since it will usually take that form), some arrangement is necessary for controlling the output of the compressor in accordance with the load imposed on the turbine in order to prevent excessive speed fluctuations of the latter or alternatively in some cases such as when the turbine is coupled to a ships propeller the outputof the compressor may require to be regulated in order that the turbine may run at various chosen speeds; since such an arrangement will usually consist of or include some form of speed governor driven by the turbine it will hereinafter be given the comprehensive term turbine governor.

According to the present invention the turbine governor directly controls the energy input to the engine and hence the power output of the plant (e. g. by controlling the fuel supply to the engine cylinder of the gas-generator) while means responsive to the stroke of the free piston govern this stroke by regulating the volumetric efiiciency of the compressor (e. g. by controllin a throttle valve in the inlet to the compressor). A device actuated by the free piston may, for example, control operating means for the compressor inlet throttle in accordance with the position reached by the free piston at the end; of the expansion stroke of the engine, which point may conveniently be called the outer dead centre, and, in a sense to limit the variation in the position of thisv point, but alternativel and preferably the device.

. erator and the turbine, to check temporary excessive outward movementof the free piston, Accordingto yet another feature of the invention the point at which combustion of fuel in initiated during the compression stroke of the piston in the engine cylinder is automatically varied in accordance with the relationship between the quantity of fuel to be injected and the volumetric efiiciency of the compressor.

One complete plant according to the invention .is shown in the accompanying drawings Figs. 1,

. .41 of. Fig. 3'being connected to the link A l of Fig.

. 1, the link3l of Fig. 2 to the link 31 of Fig. l and .bustion compressor comprises the engine cylinder l, the pair. of compressor cylinders 2 at opposite ends thereof and the pair of buffer cylinders 3 at the extreme outer ends. Within the engine cylinder I reciprocate the opposed engine pistons 4, each or which forms a free piston unit with one of the compressor pistons 5 reciprocating in the cylinders 2 and one ofthe buffer pistonso reciprocating in the cylinders 3. The head of each of the compressor cylinders 2 is provided with at least one inlet valve 12 of conventional formi. e. a valve which opens only when the pressure inside the cylinder falls below a predetermined valueand at least one discharge valve l3 of conventional form i:- a valve which opens only when the pressure inside the cylinder exceeds a predetermined maximum. The valves 12 put each 3 of the compressor cylinders 2 in communication with an inlet conduit l4 While the valves l3 put the compressor cylinders 2 in communication with the conduits I5 communicating with the annular space surrounding the ring of inlet ports la in the engine cylinder I. The latter is provided also with a ring of exhaust ports lb opening into an annular space with which communicates the exhaust conduit l5.

The reciprocating piston units are synchrohiied in the well known and usual manner by being linked by the pair of links 1 to opposite ends of the lever 3 having its mid point pivotally supported on the outside part of the engine cylinder I.

Fuel can be injected into the cylinder I by fuel injectors 9 of conventional form supplied in usual manner through fuel pipe 11, the usual form of distributor I8 and the fuel pipes 19, by the fuel injection pump l of conventional form reciprocated by cam II which is oscillated (in accordance with the movement of the free piston units) by the lever 26 which is connected by link 2i to a point on one of the links I; the quantity of fuel injected by each stroke of the injection pump I0 is determined in the usual manner by the position of its fuel rack [0a.

The conduit l6 connects the engine exhaust to the inlet to the turbine 25 which exhausts to the exhaust pipe 26. The turbine shaft 25a drives through gearing 21a conventional form of centrifugal speed governor 28.

The power plant so far described is of well known kind. It has been proposed to control the gas-generator of such plant by the turbine governor in various ways and in particular to provide at the inlet to the compressor a throttle actuated by the turbine governor to decrease the flow through the compressor on an increase in turbine speed and vice versa, the fuel rack being moved either by the turbine governor or by one of the free piston units to vary the quantity of fuel injected per cycle in accordance with either the turbine speed or the piston stroke, In contradistinction to this the present invention is carried out by putting the quantity of fuel injected under the control of the turbine governor while the compressor is provided with an inlet throttle controlled by means responsive to piston stroke.

Thus the sleeve 28a actuated by the weights 28b of the governor 28 is connected to the fuel rack 16a (by a linkage made up of the lever 29 pivoted at 3!], the link 3|, the lever 32 pivoted at 33 and the link 34) in such a sense that on outward movement of the weights 28b in response to an increase in the speed of the turbine shaft 25a the sleeve 28a moves the fuel rack [0a to decrease the fuel injected per cycle by the fuel injection pump H].

A throttle valve 42 at the inlet to each compressor cylinder 2 can be oscillated by the lever 43 pivotally connected to the link 44 which is in turn connected to the link 45 by the spring link comprising spring 48 compressed between members 46 and 41 secured to the links 44 and 45 respectively, one of these members being hollow to contain the other and the spring 48.

The links 44 and 45 and hence the throttle valves 42 can be moved by the fluid pressure servo-motor comprising the piston 49 reciprocable under fluid pressure in the cylinder 58 against the force of the compression spring A link 52 pivotally connected to the piston rod 49a of the piston 49 engages one arm of a bell crank arcane 4 lever 53 mounted on fixed pivot 54, the other arm of which lever is pivotally connected to the end of the link 45. Upward movement of the piston 49 under fiuid pressure will thus move the throttle 42 in the closing direction.

The servo-motor made up of piston 49 in cylinder 56 is controlled by means directly actuated by the free piston units. These means comprise a control piston 55 reciprocable in a control cy1 inder 56 and driven (through the arm 8a of the lever 8, the link 51, the lever 58 turning about the fixed pivot 59, the link 60, the lever 6| turning about the fixed pivot 62, the link 63 and the piston rod 55a) by the pistons 5 so as to reciprocate therewith. The inner end of the cylinder 56 is connected through the non-return valve 65 and the pipe 66 to a hydraulic accumulator-i. e. an expandible chamber wherein energy is stored under pressure and shown as comprising a cylinder 6! containing a piston 68 loaded by the spring 69. The cylinder 56 has its outer end in communication through port 56a and a point at its inner end through port 56?) in communication through pipe H with a liquid storage tank 12. The cylinder is also provided with ports 56c and 56d located as shown relatively to each other and to a groove 55?) in the piston 55; the port 560 communicates through the pipe 10 with the pipe 66 and cylinder 61 while the port 56d communicates with the servo-motor cylinder 50.

When each throttle valve 42 is fully open, link 44 is arrested. by engagement of an enlargement thereon with the guide 82 through which this link slides but compression of the spring 48 permits further movement of the link 45 together with servo piston 49 and lever 53. Located adjacent to the lever 53 so as to be engaged by the end 53a after considerable movement thereof in the direction to open the inlet throttles 42 is the lever 15 turning about the fixed pivot 16 to move the link 1! against the blessing action of the spring 18 compressed between a collar or enlargement on the link 11 and the fixed guide 19 to close a throttle 8| in the conduit l6 between the exhaust outlet from the gas-generator and the inlet to the turbine 25.

The cam H acts on the fuel injection pump l0 through two intermediate members. Bearing on the cam is the roller 22 on the end of the lever 23 and between roller 22 and the fuel injection pump is the lever 24. Thus the lever 23 constitutes a follower which is reciprocated by the cam and which drives the fuel pump; any adjustment of the relative positions of the follower, lever 23 and the cam 22 will result in the stroke commencing at different angular positions of the cam and will so adjust the timing of the fuel injection. According to a further feature of the invention, the timing of the initiation of combustion in the engine cylinder is made to depend upon the rela tionship between the quantity of fuel to beinjected and the volumetric efliciency of the compressore. g. by being made to depend upon the relationship between the position of the fuel rack Illa and the position of the inlet throttle valve or valves 42. For this purpose a link 35 connects the fuel rack lOa to a slotted lever 36 which can oscillate about fixed pivot 3'! while the pivot about which oscillates the lever 23 is in the form of an eccentric 38 which can be oscillated by the lever 39 pivotally connected at one end to the eccentric, at an intermediate point to the slider 40 slidable in the slot 36a in the lever 36 and at the other end to the link 83 connected by levers 84 and 85 and the link 86 to the link 4| going to one singers of. the arms of: theleven-Bi which actuates theinw. letthrottle valves 42-.

The manner at operation of the. plant is as follows;-

When the free piston units approach the inner dead centre position as shown in Fig. 1, air is compressed in the. engine cylinder l between the pistons a to. a temperature at which injected fuel will ignite while the. cam H. acting through the levers 23: and 24 operates. the fuel pump l0. to inject into this compressed air (through the in.- jection valves: 9) a quantity of fuel which is determined by the position of the fuel rack Illa. During the outward stroke of pistons 4 and v following on the combustion of this. fuel, the pistons 5 compress in the. cylinders 2 the air previously drawn in through the inlet valves l2 which now close. When the free piston units come to. rest at the end ofthis outward stroke, one of the pistons 4 uncovers the inlet ports Ia and the air compressed in the cylinders 2 goes through the non-return valves I3 as shown by the arrows through the conduits. l5 to the inlet ports In so scavenging the engine cylinder. The other piston 4. has also uncovered the exhaust ports lb so that the mixture. of combustion products and scavenging air goes byway of conduit IE to the inlet to the turbine to serve as the motive fluid for this turbine and eventually is discharged by the turbine exhaust 26; The buffer pistons 6 during this outward stroke compress air in the bufier cylinders 3 until the piston units are brought to rest and when scavenging of the engine cylinder takes: place the pressure in the buffer cylinders '3 causes the piston units to rebound and return to the inner dead centre position, thereby trapping and compressing in the engine cylinder l some of the scavenging air while at the. same time the compressor pistons 5 draw into. the cylinders 2 a fresh charge of air through the non-return inlet valves l2 from the inlet pipes M. The operation so far described iswell known and is described solely for the sake of completeness.

To control the plant, the turbine governor 23 driven by. the turbine-shaft 25a will act in response, for example, to a decrease in turbine speed to move the fuel rack Illa (-through the linkage made up of" parts 29-34) in a direction to increase the quantity. of fuel injected into the engine cylinder 1 per cycle. This, by increasing the energy input to the gas-generator, will increase the power output thereof and the input to the turbine and tend to restore the turbine speed to the correct value. This increase of fuel may, however, havev an immediate disturbing effeet on the stroke of the freepiston and may, for example, cause the outer dead centre to move outwards. Changes in other conditions may also affect the outstroke of the free pist0ns-e. g. a considerable decrease in the back pressure in conduit IE or a fall of this pressure substantially to atmospheric would increase the outstroke.

A variation in the position of the outer dead centre is highly undesirable. An excessive stroke may cause excessive pressure in buffer cylinders 3 or even impact of pistons 6 with the cylinder ends. If, on the other hand, the pistons 5 stop considerably short of a preferred outer dead centre point the excessive quantity of gas left in the clearance spaces in cylinders 72 at substantially the pressure prevailing in conduit is will tend to increase the inward return stroke of the free piston units. and at h h gas discharge pressures. this may. so. considerably outweigh the 6 reduction in pressure in cylinders 3. with. reduced stroke that there. is a tendency to a seriously excessive compression pressurefin the. engine cylinder. I when engine pistons 4. reach the inner deadcentre. Thus variations in the.

position of the. outer deadcentre will vary the.

engine compression pressure, and vary. this pres-.. sure. to an. extent varying with changes in the.

pressure inv the outlet conduit Hi. There is one.

particular outer dead. centrelposition at. which the.

variation of: engine compression pressurev with changes in discharge pressureare a minimum and.

it is highly desirable that the. outer deadv centre.

should deviate as little. as possible. from this position; moreover with a constant dead centre the effect of buffer pistons 6 will remain substantially constant. invention. aims. firstlyv at keeping the outer dead.

the. arrangement acts. as follows:-- An outward movement ofv the outer dead centre. causes the piston-55 moved by the free pistonv units (through the linkagev comprising the parts 51i63) to actuate the. servo-motor piston 49 in a. senseto open the throttlevalves. 4 2. Thepiston 55. is shown in the position which it occupies when the free piston units areat their inner dead. centre position and the cylinder 56 is. then kept filled with liquid. at constant head through the pipes kl. from thestorage. tank 12. During the outward. stroke of the. free piston units, the control piston. 55 covers the. port 56?) and tends to force liquid out of. thecylinder 56 through thev non-return valve 55 and pipe 66 into the accumulator cylinder.v 61. where. it is stored under a pressuredetermined by the spring 69. At the.

end of. the outward stroke, the end of the piston 55 should uncover the port 560 without uncovering the port 5Gd-if. the pistons come to rest atthe. correct outer dead centre position. At the end of; the. return. stroke of piston 55 the accumulator cylinder 6? is put in communication through the pipe is and the port 560 and through the port 5fid-andthe pipe 74, with the servo-motor cyl-,

inder 5Q; If the stroke of the free piston units is such that they stop slightly shortof the predetermined outer dead centre position, the control piston. 55 during one stroke will force liquid into the accumulator but the edge of the pistonv will not uncover port 560 while on the return stroke the groove '55b will uncover the port 560 whereby fluid flows from the accumulator by Way of pipes Ill and M into the cylinder 50 to move; the piston 49; against thepressure of spring 5L Thus on each stroke the whole device will act as a pump supplying liquid-to the servo-motor to move it. progressively to close the throttle valves' When the free. piston units, however, stopat the outer dead centrev position which is the correct predetermined position, the end of the. piston 55 willuncover the port 560 after the liquid has been pumped'into the. accumulator but without uncovering the port 56d whereby the liquid pumped into the accumulator will immediately return tothe cylinder56; accordingly when on the return stroke the-groove 55b in piston 55 uncovers port 550 there will be no flow of liquid. from pipe ill to pipe 14 and to the servo-motor which will accordingly remain. at rest. Should the free piston unit movebeyond the correct outer dead centre the control piston 55 will move far enough for its end to uncover not only port 56c The arrangement according to the.

but subsequently port 56d, thereby allowing the spring to move the piston 49 in a direction to return a certain amount of fluid to the cylinder 56 and to open the inlet throttles 42. Continued running of the free piston device beyond the predetermined outer dead centre thus results in a progressive return movement of the servomotor and progressive opening of the throttles until a state of equilibrium is reached at which the pistons are coming to rest at substantially the correct outer dead centre while on the other hand continued stopping of the free pistons before reaching the predetermined outer dead centre will have the opposite effect.

Thus the turbine governor 28 controls the fuel supply to the engine cylinder while the control device including the control piston 55 responsive to any deviation of the outer dead centre position of the free pistons from a predetermined point controls the inlet throttles in such manner as to tend to maintain a substantially constant stroke of the free pistons and to correct for any deviation of the outer dead centre from the predetermined point either due to a change in the fuel supply or due to any other cause at a constant value of fuel supply. It is an important feature of the arrangement according to the invention that the condition of the inlet throttles 42 is independent of the condition of the turbine governor 28 and is not necessarily dependent on the position of the fuel rack Illa but can vary independently of the fuel supply as may be necessary to maintain the correct stroke of the free pistons. An important point is that for any given quantity of fuel injected per cycle, movement of the inlet throttles 42 will not vary the flow of gas through the gas-generator device. A partial closing of the inlet throttles 42 will reduce the initial pressure of the air drawn into the compressor cylinder and the volumetric efiiciency of the compressor below their corresponding values when the throttle is fully open and accordingly for any given quantity of fuel injected per cycle such partial closing of the throttles will tend to increase the stroke of the compressor because due to the lower initial pressure the energy developed by the combustion of the fuel in the cylinder I will be in excess of that which would be absorbed in overcoming the resistance of the pistons 5 and 6 when operating over the original length of stroke. Conversely a re-opening of the throttles 42 will increase the initial pressure and the volumetric efficiency, thus tending to decrease the stroke. Varying the volumetric efiiciency of the compressor within practicable limits will not substantially afiect--for a given fuel injection-either the mass of air drawn into and delivered by the compressor or its delivery pressure; these are determined principally by the quantity of fuel injected per cycle and by the mass flow/pressure characteristic of the turbine supplied by the gas-generator. A further important feature is that the actual position of the throttle valves 42 is independent of the exact point at which the free pistons come to rest at the end of the outstroke and the throttles can be in any position between fully open and fully closed with the pistons coming to rest in one particular position which will only momentarily vary from the correct outer dead centre position.

In general a change in loading on the turbine will cause a gradual tendency to a change of speed, a displacement of the governor and consequently-in immediate response-a gradual change in the quantity of fuel injected which tends to check the change of turbine speed. Similarly, any tendency of the outer dead centre of the free pistons to vary when the gas-generator is adjusting itself to new conditions of load will immediately set the inlet throttles in progressive movement to check any deviation of the outer dead centre and to restore it to substantially the correct point. A sudden large change in condi tions such as, for example, a sudden large increase in the load on the turbine resulting in a sudden large increase in the quantity of fuel in- J'ected per cycle may result in an increase in the stroke of the free pistons accompanied by a rapid full opening of the inlet throttles without immediately sufficiently restricting the stroke of the free pistons. This emergency condition is met by the action of the end 53a. of the lever 53 on the lever '15 whereby the throttle valve 8| at the outlet from the gas-generator is closed to cause an artificial building up of the pressure of this outlet and a resistance to the motion of the free pistons. This will tend further to restrict outward movement of the outer dead centre until the pressure at the turbine outlet builds up when in response to inward movement of the outer dead centre the throttle valve 8| will be progressively fully re-opened by the action of spring The movement of the fuel rack Illa to vary the quantity of fuel injected will turn the lever 36 through an angle to a new position as indicated by the dotted lines in Fig. 1; this will move the slider ii) and the link 39, thereby turning the eccentric 38 to change the position of the lever 23 and roller 22 relatively to the cam I i. roller 22 will move around the cam ll, thereby altering the angular position of the cam H at which the fuel pump is operated. Thus the fuel timing will be altered with any change in the quantity of the fuel injected per cycle but since the rack la is linked to an invariable point on the lever 36, the movement of the eccentric 38' for a given movement of the fuel rack Ida will depend upon the position of the slider 40 in the slot 36a which in turn depends upon the position of the lever 53 to which the arm 39 is linked and thus upon the position of the inlet throttle valves 42 which are actuated by the lever 53. A change in the position of the inlet throttles may have no effect on the timing of the fuel injection when the fuel rack is in one particular position and may advance or retard the timing according to whether the fuel rack is on one side or other of the said position.

What 1 claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. Power plant consisting of a gas turbine having a speed governor, and of a free piston internal combustion compressor comprising a combustion cylinder, at least one compressor cylinder and at least one cushion cylinder, at least one free piston unit consisting of an engine piston, a compressor piston and a cushion piston adapted to reciprocate in the said cylinders, means for supplying fuel to the said combustion cylinder, means adapted to control the quantity of this fuel supply per stroke in dependence on the said speed governor and in substantial independence of the positions of the dead centres of the free piston unit, means progressively movable responsive to repeated deviations of the outer dead centre positions of said unit from a predetermined point, a throttle at the inlet of the said compressor cylinder; the said progressively mov- The able means being adapted to actuate said throttle so as to progressively open said throttle when the said piston unit repeatedly overruns said predetermined point and to progressively close said throttle when said piston unit repeatedly fails to reach said predetermined point.

2. Power plant according to claim 1 wherein said throttle actuating means comprise a fluid pressure motor in driving connection with the throttle valve and a fluid pump device reciprocated by the free piston device and in communication with said motor, the pump device having ports admitting fluid to the motor from the pump when the stroke of the pump piston during the outstroke of the free piston device is up to a point on one side of a predetermined point and discharging fluid from the motor when the said stroke is up to a point on the other side of the predetermined point.

3. A power plant according to claim 2 in combination with a throttle at the exhaust outlet from the internal combustion device and a lostmotion type operative connection between the two throttles, the said exhaust throttle having a full open position corresponding to the greater part of the range of positions of said inlet throttle and being moved to closed position by said connection after the said inlet throttle has been moved to full open position.

4. Power plant comprising a gas turbine, a free piston internal combustion compressor with its exhaust connected to the inlet to the turbine to supply motive fluid thereto and a speed governor actuated by the turbine, in combination with a fuel regulator on the free piston device under the control of said governor, a throttle at the inlet to said compressor, actuating means for said throttle progressively movable in the throttleclosing direction in response to the free piston ending its outstroke short of a predetermined point and in the throttle-opening direction in response to an excessive outstroke of the free piston device and means for advancing and retarding the timing of the injection of fuel into the free piston device in joint dependence on the position of said fuel regulator and the position of said inlet throttle.

5. A power plant comprising a free piston internal combustion compressor, and a throttle at the inlet to said compressor, in combination with lever mechanism connected to said free piston and actuated thereby, the extent of movement of said lever mechanism being directly dependent upon the extent of the reciprocatory movement of said free piston, a servo-motor, and a fluid medium control means for supplying fluid material under pressure to, and permitting its escape from, said servo-motor, said fluid medium control means comprising a duel function member connected to and actuated by said lever mechanism, said member serving both as a pump element to pump said medium in said fluid medium control means and also as a control means for said fluen-t medium, preventing its passage to said servo-motor, or permitting its passage under pressure to said servo-motor, or permitting its escape from said servo-motor, all in accordance with the position of said member at the end of a given stroke of said free piston.

6. Power plant comprising a gas turbine, a free piston internal combustion compressor with its exhaust connected to the inlet of the turbine to supply motive fluid thereto and a speed governor actuated by the turbine, in combination with a fuel regulator on the free piston device under the control of said governor, a throttle at the inlet of said compressor and independent of and disassociated from said governor, and means independent of said governor and controlled solely by the stroke of the free piston of said internal combustion compressor to operate said throttle towards its open condition in response to excessive stroke of said piston.

7. Power plant comprising a gas turbine, a free piston internal combustion compressor with its exhaust connected to the inlet of the turbine to supply motive fluid thereto and a speed governor actuated by the turbine, in combination with a fuel regulator on the free piston device under the control of the said governor, a throttle at the inlet of said compressor and independent of and disassociated from said governor, and means independent of said governor and controlled solely by the stroke of a free piston of said internal combust on compressor to operate said throttle towards its closed condition in response to insuflicient stroke of said piston.

ROBERT JAMES WELSH.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 2,090,709 Steiner Aug. 24, 1937 2,102,121 Janicke Dec. 14, 1937 2,147,935 Steiner Feb. 21, 1939 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 434,921 Great Britain Sept. 11, 1935 

